GPFF Launches Global Peace Women to Advance “the Dream of Peace”

Ms. Jun Sook Moon addresses convention delegates at the launch of Global Peace Women in Seoul, Korea.

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“It has been said that women hold up one-half of heaven. Without the pillars of our support, heaven would crumble, and the dream of peace never be realized,” said Ms. Jun Sook Moon,  wife of GPFF founder and chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, during a festive launching of a new GPFF peace initiative, Global Peace Women, on November 29, 2011.

Global Peace Women was formally established at the closing ceremony of the November 28-30 Global Peace Convention in Seoul, Korea.  Ms. Moon will serve as chairwoman of the organization, which will work to represent the voices of women in government and civil society, and to promote the welfare of women and children as a basic building block of a peaceful world.

 “Women can make an indispensable contribution to realize the dream of One Family under God by engaging and empowering women of all backgrounds and stations in life,” Ms. Moon said. “Our work should not just be about engaging women from comfortable backgrounds in good works, but in reaching out to women in the poorest circumstances and giving them the little they need to lift themselves and their families.” 

0	The forum "Women's Leadership: Human Rights and Peacebuilding," drew scholars and advocates from Korea, Mayalsia, the Netherlands and the United States.

The launch of the new initiative was a highlight of Convention, which also included a forum, “Women’s Leadership: Human Rights and Peace Building," bringing into focus the essential role of women in leadership and the need to utilize the experience and perspective of women to lead the world to peace.

In recent years, for example, Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, and Dr. Wangari Maathai in Kenya have become international symbols of conscience—of compassionate care for the poor, human rights, and proper stewardship of the environment.

In addition to Mrs. Jun Sook Moon and moderator Mrs. Shinsook Kim (Global Peace Women's newly appointed secretary-general),  the women's forum included Korean Professor Yoonmi Cho; Tan Sri Datin Paduka Sri Hajah Zaleha Ismail, Chair of the National Population and Family Development Board of Malaysia; Mrs. Donna Schuller, an author, pastor and nutritionist; and Dr. Eva Latham, President of Human Rights Teaching International in the Netherlands.

“Women have tremendous God-given gifts,” Ms. Moon told the Convention. “Women, as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters, have the natural gifts to create the environment and experience of home and family.  With those gifts they must take the lead in translating the vision of One Family under God into a living reality, one family at a time.”